Phil Simms reflects on the sad state of the NFC East and Giants' opportunity
Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) loses control of the ball and watches Giants linebacker Tae Crowder (48) recover it during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020, in East Rutherford, N.J. Crowder scored a touchdown on the play. Credit: AP/John Minchillo
Phil Simms last played in the NFC East 3½ years before Daniel Jones was born, but he still gets nostalgic when he watches teams from his old division.
"I look at Washington and I just go, oh, my gosh, I loved the old [RFK] stadium," the former Giants quarterback and current CBS analyst said on Wednesday.
"It just was the best, and everybody in the NFL always agreed with that. The players, they loved playing at RFK more than any other stadium in the NFL. The setting, the grass, just everything."
Then Simms’ reverie was interrupted by a 2020 realty: The current NFC East standings, in which after six weeks its four teams have a total of five victories.
"I don’t know if I ever played in a division where it was in the state that it is now," he said. "I don’t think it was ever even close to the state it’s in now. And it’s really strange to see this."
He later added, "It’s really strange in the NFL, where everything is created to keep it all close, to see a whole division just completely, for lack of better words, fall apart and be separated from every other division in the NFL.
"Honestly, I don’t see a big correction coming from any of the teams as far as the year goes along. I just can’t see the Eagles, Giants, Cowboys, whatever, going on a four- or five-game winning streak. That’s just the reality."
But the reality also is that someone has to win the division and make the playoffs, and Thursday night’s improbably big game between the Giants (1-5) and Eagles (1-4-1) could go a long way toward determining that.
"Listen, I would think it’s all great motivation," Simms said of a division in which the first-place Cowboys are 2-4. "The Giants' locker room at 1-5 has to be one of the most upbeat 1-5 locker rooms in the last 20 years, because they know they’re right in the middle of a playoff race. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s awesome for them.
"People can moan and groan about it, but hey, that’s the way it falls. I’m not going to say I never thought this would happen, but I’ve never seen a division get off to a start like this, that’s for sure."
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
